Smoke bomb projector



Jan. 25, 1949. McLAlN' ET AL 2,459,833

SMOKE BOMB PROJECTOR Filed June 7, 1945 Patented Jan. 25, 1949 2,459,833 7 I SMOKE some PROJECTOR w uioseph H. McLain and Alfred C. Fairchild, United States Army Application June 7, 1945, Serial No. 598,199

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) 1 Claim.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of royaity thereon.

The invention relates to smoke producing appliance, particularly to a smoke bomb projector.

Similar devices heretofore used for the same purpose were of heavy construction and are more or less firmly emplaced on permanent base plates or supported on standard structures. These required a considerable number of personnel for transporting and operating same.

One of the main objects of this invention is to provide a portable projector for smoke bombs.

In order to eliect a lar e and immediate smoke screen the projector must be of light construction and should be capable of being attached to some part of an armored vehicle for instance to a bumper. It must be easily manufactured from some readily available materials, inexpensive and eiiicient in operation for military uses.

Another object of the present invention is to provide easy means for attaching the projector to a bumper of an armored vehicle so that the smoke can be produced on a very short notice.

With these and other objects in view, which may be incident to this description, this invention consists in the parts and combinations to be hereinafter set forth and claimed with the understanding that the several necessary elements may be varied in construction, proportion, and ar rangement, without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

To more clearly understand this invention, ref erence is made to the accompanying drawing, which forms a part of this specification.

Figure l is a perspective view of the projector with means for attaching same to a bumper shown in the broken line.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Referring by numerals to the drawings wherein similar elements are designated by like reference numbers throughout, and more particularly to Figure 1, there is shown a projector generally designated by numeral is, forming the subject matter of this invention, comprising a barrel ll attached by welding or other suitable means such as casting to a plate 12 having four bolt-holes for attaching same to a truck bumper 22 by means of four bolts 29 and an additional plate 23 as shown in both figures.

As shown, the tubular part is attached to the plate l2 so as to form a 45 angle between the plane of the plate and the long axis of the tube.

In operation, the projector, after it has been attached to an armored truck bumper, as shown in Figure 1, is charged with three bags of black powder I3, one of which is equipped with a squib It for electrically firin the charge. The charge is then covered by a driVing disc l5 having a flash hole H5 in its center. Next comes the projectile, which is the usual canister IT for producing smoke.

The bottom of the projector is provided with a 4 inch hole 2| to permit the squib to protrude through it for making the necessary electrical connections, which will ignite the powder and propel the smoke canister, producing the smoke screen.

A friction fitting cover [8 is placed over the open projector end and taped to it to prevent moisture from getting in the canister or to the black powder.

This cover will be blown off by the propellant blast, which also serves to ignite the smoke canister.

We claim:

In combination: a cylindrical projector barrel; a canister loaded therein and substantially coextensive with said barrel; smoke producing material in said canister; a muzzle cover pressed into air-tight engagement with the outer surface of the muzzle of said projector and arranged to be blown olT by the discharge of said canister; bracket means arranged to hold said projector on a vehicle at a firing angle of approximately 45; a propellant charge positioned under said canister; a driving disc positioned between said canister and said charge; electrical firing means for said charge; communicating means between said charge, said canister and disc arranged to cause the ignition of said smoke producing material upon the firing of said propellant charge.

JOSEPH H. McLAIN. ALFRED C. FAIRCHILD.

(References on following page) REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 Number Name Date 1,340,689 Thornycroft May 13, 1920 1,367,641 Udart Feb. 8, 1921 1,564,703 Nichols Dec. 8, 1925 10 1,994,294 Williams Mar. 12, 1935 2,070,050 Hoecker 1- Feb. 9, 1937 2,072,621 Gagle Mar. 2, 1937 2,142,365 McKee Jan. 3, 1939 2,210,272 Turner Aug. 6, 1940 15 2,358,120

Winsick Sept. 12, 1944 Number Number Name Date Collings June 5, 1945 Davis Aug. 14, 1945 Shaffer Aug. 21, 1945 Wheeler May 14, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Sweden May 8, 1934 Great Bratain Apr. 24, 1919 Great Britain May 8, 1919 Great Britain July 25, 1922 France Apr. 2, 1906 Germany M Apr. 18, 1925 France Dec. 2, 1935 

